for the newcomer to the field, a more than useful glossary and

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for the newcomer to the field, a more than useful glossary and an exhaustive bibliography.

In Chapter nal process utilize L2

7 ('Learner strategies'), Ellis considers the inter- which account for how learners handle input data and resources in the production of messages (p. 164). A complete understanding of SLA, it is argued, involves both show- ing how the input is ~haped to make it learnable (an 'interorgan- ism perspective'), and how the learner works on the input to turn it into intake (an 'intra-organism perspective'). There is sufficient in this section alone to question any assumption that computers and CALL, as instruments, will be able to resolve the education crisis in southern Africa.

Needed, rather (and particularly with regard to the teaching of English), is a sober, fundamentalist approach: careful, pains- taking (and centrally funded) research of the needs of L2 learners; a decision as to what

approaches

are necessary to meet these needs; and a willingness to explore and utilize all the resources of a multimedia environment. The two works mentioned here might well be a good place to start. Certainly,

Comput- ers, language learning and language teaching

and

Understanding second Language acquisition

belong well-thumbed on the desks of all teachers (and would-be teachers) of English in South Africa.

A.O. ADEY UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

Wolfgang Klein.

Second Language Acquisition.

Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1986. 191 pp. Paperback.

Part I ( 'The process of language acquisition') comprises three chapters. In the first chapter various types of language acquisition are considered, namely first language acquisition (FLA), second language acquisition (SLA) and re-acquisition (RA). Sev- eral important theories are outlined, giving the reader an idea of what researchers in second language acquisition were mainly concerned with during the past decade.

In chapter two Klein discusses the three components which deter- mine the process of language acquisition - propensity, language faculty and access to the language - as well as the three catego- ries which characterize the process - its structure, tempo and

38 https://doi.org/10.25159/0256-5986/5208

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end state. These comprise the six basic dimensions of language acquisition. One becomes aware of the complexity of the process of language acquisition.

In the second part of the book ('From the learner's point of view') Klein deals with the ways in which learners utilize the linguistic input available to them so that they can develop their individual language varieties and then gradually approxi- mate to the target language. Chapter four gives an overview of the formidable task faced by the learner. This is subdivided in- to four problems (the problem of analysis, the problem of synthesis, the embedding problem and the matching problem) which are then examined in detail in chapters five to eight. The knowledge available to the learner at a given time is of four kinds:

(1) general knowledge of language and communication, (2) knowledge of first language, (3) available knowledge of the target language and (4) non-linguistic knowledge. Klein shows how these four kinds of knowledge are involved in the construction of the learner's elementary utterances.

He proceeds to show how the rules of the 'basic syntax' of basic learner varieties are gradually superseded by the rules of the target variety. Using two examples (the development of the fi- nite verb and the development of negation) he explains how 'with- in these pragmatically orientated language varieties there is a gradual approximation to the syntax of the target language.' Our inadequate knowledge of the structure and function of utterances in fully developed languages is a major obstacle to the synthesis problem.

All utteran~es are embedded in the speaker's and the hearer's in- formational set-up, compo~ed of current perception, recollec- tions of preceding events and utterances, and knowledge of the world. When he constructs his utterance, the speaker must de- cide what contextual information must be added to his utterance and what the hearer's concomitant knowledge might be in that situation. This is part of what Klein calls the speaker's 'embedding problem' in chapter seven. Added to this is the use of linguistic devices that are dealt with such as deixis, anaphora and ellipsis. Klein admits that 'our ideas about the ways in which the embedding problem is solved by learners are still very unsatisfactory. A major reason for this unsatisfactory state of the art is the paucity of evidence on the interplay of concomitant knowledge and utterance information in the use of any fully-fledged language as well as in learner varieties.'

(P.137).

Progress in language acquisition requires the learner to match his own language performance against the standards of the target

39

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language speakers. At the beginning the discrepancy is very obvious, but the smaller it becomes (towards the end of the process of language acquisition), the greater 'the matching problem.' Chapter eight deals with certain aspects of the matching problem. After outlining some of the obstacles to an investiga- tion of the matching problem, various matching procedures such as self-monitoring and feedback from other speakers are discus- sed. It becomes obvious that at any point in time the learner can focus on only a limited number of aspects of his defective language performance. Klein concludes chapter eight with a com- prehensive study of self-correction in second language learning.

This book should be of great value to anyone interested in second language acquisition.

Christopher

Teaching.

166 pages.

Brumfit, Cambridge:

Paperback.

CATHY PIENAAR UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

Communicative Methodology in Language

Cambridge University Press, 1984. x +

Although this book derives from Christopher Brumfit's Ph.D. the- sis, he has made enough changes for it to be more suitable for a wider audience. This book will be invaluable to any serious teachers of language and students of language teaching methodology because, although the emphasis is on communicative methodology, the author also covers a wider field which will enable the reader to grasp the varied aspects of language methodology.

After four chapters dealing with background to the language students' ability to learn a language, the author deals with practical methods of language teaching in as many chapters. In the first four chapters Brumfit discusses research and teaching methodology; first and second language acquisition; language form and language meaning; and accuracy and fluency. These chapters contain important arguments concerning the social, historical and psychological influences on teaching methodology and language learning.

In the final chapters Brumfit stresses the roles of fluency and accuracy in language teaching and learning. The suggestions he makes and the approaches he recommends are very practical and,